Textile fabric and method of making same



C. ROSENSTEIN TEXTILE FABRIC ANDMETHOD OF MAKING SAME Nov. 1, 1938.

Filed Dec. 6, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Nov. 1, 1938.

C. ROSENSTEIN TEXTILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 6, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q a Q A G a U f 1 v r i/AhuU Q m MGQO a 0.

J Ifm A. A m mm h 0 w a Q w M5 m A A ka m m "p 0 AW wa w E wmfiv a 0 n T W u... A A W M n/ A W W Q Patented Nov. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TEXTILE FABRIC AND METHOD! or MAK- ING SAME

Application December 6, 1937, Serial No. 178,412

3 Claims.

This invention relates to textile fabrics, particularly fabrics having one or more pleats upon the surface or surfaces of the fabric, and to methods of producing such pleated fabrics.

It has long been the practice to make a fabric, especially a fabric intended for use in the production of dresses, millinery, draperies, and various other goods used for purposes which make the ornamental appearance of the fabric either necessary or desirable, to provide the fabric with pleats, fringes, tassels or various other ornamental features or devices, attached either to the edge or edges or to one or both of the surfaces of the fabric.

I Heretofore such ornamental elements or devices have been applied to the fabric, whether woven or knitted, by sewing them to the body of the fabric. This manner of producing the ornamental fabric has been inconvenient, tedious and otherwise objectionable. It has increased the necessary cost of production and the resulting fabric has generally shown the existence of uneven joining lines, sewing lines and projecting edges, frequently presenting a rough, pieced, unfinished and unsatisfactory appearance. Moreover, the pleats, when so applied, must be specially made and prepared, in advance of their attachment to the fabric, by separate weaving or knitting methods, and must be finished or hemmed on their edges, all of which slows production, causes increased cost, and with difficulty, if ever, produces fabric of wholly acceptable workmanship and appearance.

Moreover, if the finished fabric is intended to have a design upon it, especially a printed design, it is exceedingly difficult, and pratically impossible, to apply the design to the finished pleated fabric.

The design, to be in any acceptable degree attractive, must extend regularly over the surface of the completed fabric, Whether that surface is made up of the upper surface of the fabric body and pleats disposed thereon in spaced relation, or is presented to the eye as a series of pleats completely overlying and covering the body of the fabric. If an attempt were to be made to apply the design to the body of the fabric and to the pleats separately, and to subsequently attach the pleats to the fabric, it would be impossible, at least without a prohibitive amount of time and labor and waste of material, to secure a matching of the pleats with the fabric body 7 or with the other pleats in such a way or in attractive finished product. Similarly, if it were intended to apply the design to the fabric after the attachment of the pleats, the inability to hold the free ends of the pleats in absolutely fixed and correct positions for detailed matching of the parts of the design on the adjacent pleats would make it impossible to produce a printed design on the pleated fabric in this way.

A further limitation upon the production of pleated textile fabric by the method of sewing the pleats to the fabric, as heretofore, is found in the inability, by the use of the sewing method, to obtain a pleated fabric in which the pleats themselves present parallel plain and regular stripes, preferably in the form of fringed edges, interposed between adjacent woven pleats of noticeably different appearance, Whether plain or ornamented, by a design or designs applied by printing, jacquard weaving or in other ways.

One of the principal objects of my invention is the provision of a textile fabric having a pleat or series of pleats arranged upon its surface or surfaces and'interwoven with the fabric.

A further object is the provision of a textile fabric having one or more pleats upon, a surface of the fabric ornamented by printing, jacquard weaving or by designs applied in other ways.

A further object is the provision of a textile fabric having one or more pleats formed upon one or both of its surfaces, interwoven with the body of the'fab-ric and having a fringed edge.

A further object is the provision of a textile fabric having fringed pleats arranged upon a surface of the fabric and interwoven with the body of the fabric soas to permit the application of a printed design to the pleated fabric.

A further object is the provision of a pleated fabric in which the pleats are interwoven with the body of the fabric, and provided with a printed design upon the finished pleated fabric, the application of the design leaving spaced rows of plain fringe stripes appearing upon the printed design.

A further object is a method of producing pleated textile fabric in which the pleat or pleats are integrally attached to the body of the fabric.

A further object is the method of producing pleated textile fabric having a pleat integralwith the surface of the body of the fabric and provided with fringe on the free edge of the pleat.

A further object is the method of making pleated textile fabric'having one or more fringed pleats integral with the surface of the fabric, the joining lines of the pleats to the fabric and fringe being straight, even and smooth.

A further object is a method of producing pleated textile fabric having a complete and accurately matching printed design upon the surface of the pleated fabric. 1

These objects are attained by the fabric and the method of making it which are disclosed herein and which constitute my invention. 7

The method, generally speaking, comprises the weaving. of a double cloth, which may be done by ordinary weaving methods except that float threads are formed upon the front and/or rear surface of the fabric, cutting the float threads,

preferably upon the completion of the weaving operation, and, when the float threads are formed on the rear surface of the fabric, pulling them through the fabric. The result, on whichever face of the fabric the float threads appear'before they are cut, is that at least one surface of the fabric has upon it a series of integrally attached pleats, each of which has a row of fringe along its free edge. If a printed design is applied to the fringed pleats, it is put on before the float threads-are cut, not only because it is prac- 'tically'impossible to obtain an accurate matching of the design on the'pleats by applying the design when the ends of the pleats are free, but

also because, when the float threads which form' the edge of the pleats are formed on the rear, instead of the front, surface of'the fabric, the application of the design before the cuttingof the float threads produces the desirable ornamental effect of a plain unprinted fringe along the edge of the printed pleat, which is not obd of producing it will be clearly understood from the following description, taken in connection with the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of a piece of pleated fabric made by'and in accordance with my preferred method, a portion of the fabric being shown in uncompleted condition.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the piece of fabric illustrated in Fig. 1,

Fig- 3 is a transverse sectional view of the piece of fabric illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2', taken on'lin e 3-3 of Fig. 2 and showing the fabric before the cutting of the float threads,

Fig.4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, after the float p invention, as it pertains either to the plea-ted threads are cut,

.Fig. 5 is a top plan view, similar to Fig. 1, of a piece of pleated fabric made by a modified or alternative method, r

6 isaview similar to Fig. 2, of the fabric shown in Fig. 5, and r 7 Figs. 7 and 8, are views similar to Figs. 3 and 4,

showing the fabric illustrated in Figs. 5 andfi.

' respectively before and after the cutting of the *bodiments of my invention; a double cloth is] .wovenby any suitable 'weavingmethods and.ap-'

iparatus, the weaving being carried on in such a'way as 'to'leave float threads 2 upon one of the surfacea'preferably the rear surface 3 of the body 'I ofthe; fabric. These float threads may be formed in either the warp or the weft,

or if desired, the pleated fabric maybe formed after being formed, in warp and/or weft, (as

shown in Fig. 3), are then cut, and, if formed upon the rear surface, are drawn through the fabric from the rear to the front surface 4. The cutting releases one edge'of each pleat 6, permitting it to hang freely upon the surface of the fabric from its point of attachment 1 with the body of the fabric. with the fabric body and interwoven and interlocked with it at intervals, in the course of and as an incident to the weaving process resulting in the formation'of "the double cloth. When out The pleat is thus formed integrally the floatthreads appear on the edge of each pleat i as a'fringe 8. By this method of forming the pleats and 'fringe, there is no unsightly line of jointure of the pleat to the body of thefabric, and a '25 This fringe is preferably plain and devoid of.

any printing on'the front surface of the fabric,

as when the float threads have been formedon the rear surface 3, but may bear a part of the printed design ill, by forming the float threads on the top or front surface 4, to which the printed design is affixed. (See Figs. 5, 6, 7 and '8.) When the fringe-8 has been obtained from float threads 2 formed on the rear surface of the cloth (as in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and'4), it overlies and overlaps the next adjacent pleat -6 (or the body of the fabric, in the event that the pleats'are so arranged as to be spaced apart and reveal a portion of the body of the fabric between the fringe and the point of attachment 1 of the next adjacent A pleat 6). In thiscase, if the pleats havea printed design 10 upon them, the fringe 8 appearsas a plain stripe upon a background of the printed design. (See Fig. 1.) On the other hand, if the fringe is formed by float threads 2 upon the upper surface 4, and a design l0 applied to that surface by printing, the fringe stripes do not appear, the design extending over the fringe 8. as well as-the pleats 6.

It is to be understood that, ifja design I0 is to be printed uponthe upper surface 4 of the cutting operation, .While the float threads 2 are 7 intact upon the rear (or front) surface of the cloth.

It is to be further understood, however, that'my fabric or the method of producing it, is not limited to pleated fabric. ornamented by printing, since the ornamentation of the pleated fabric may be effected in other ways, for example, by the weaving of Jacquard designs, stripes, colors and other effects into the surface of the pleats and/or body of the fabric. My invention contemplates and consists of pleated fabric of the character described and my novel method 'of producing it,

Whether'the pleats are on'one or both sides of the fabri whether the pleated fabric has fringe 1 upon its pleats, or has plain edges and Whether v, itis ornamented ,by printed or woven designs, or

is wholly-devoid of such designs;

It will be observed that, whethertheepleated fabrichas a design or other ornamentation 'apfabric presents a neat and attractive appearance, with invisible joining lines 1 between the pleats 6 and body I of the fabric, and straight, regular and even fringe lines ll, I2, the straightness of line ll between the fringe 8 and pleat 6 being produced by and as the result of the well known Weaving operations, and the edge line I2 of the fringe 8 being given straightness and evenness by cutting the float threads 2 in a straight line, preferably close to the junction point I, by hand or any of the well known cutting apparatus adapted for this purpose.

I claim:

1. The method of forming woven fabric having fringed pleats upon a surface thereof which comprises weaving warp and weft threads to form a body and a superimposed layer of fabric interlocked with said body at intervals and formed adjacent alternate interlocks with a series of spaced parallel float threads, and cutting said float threads adjacent said alternate interlocks to form fringed pleats on a surface of said fabric.

2. The method of forming woven fabric having fringed pleats upon a surface thereof which comprises weaving warp and weft threads to form a body and a layer of fabric superimposed on one side of said body and float threads upon the opposite side of said body interlocking said superimposed layer with said body at intervals, applying a printed design to the surface of said body and superimposed layer on the surface of the fabric opposite to the surface upon which the float threads are formed, and cutting the float threads adjacent one end thereof and drawing the severed float threads through said body to form fringed pleats attached to the fabric and lying substantially against the printed fabric surface.

3. Woven textile fabric having pleats integrally attached to a surface of the fabric, said pleats having integrally-formed fringe upon an edge thereof and having a printed design upon the surface of said pleats, said fringe being without said design and appearing as a plain line between the portions of said printed design appearing on adjacent pleats.

- CHARLES ROSENSTEIN. 

